A New World Begins

On new terms

Nat:Hi, Boots! How are things with you? I was hoping I might spot you online. Have a good Christmas? What are you up to?

Craig:Hey, Nat! Good to see you. Yes, I had a brilliant Christmas, thanks. Shane came over with Kyle and their family for New Year. Lee too. I spent a few days in London with them. Shane will have lots to tell you and the guys when college starts. I’m just checking I have everything packed for school on Monday. I might not have much time tomorrow, we’re going up to Brize Norton to drop dad off for his flight back over to your side of the pond. He’s taken mum out for dinner tonight so I’m ‘home alone.’ I could have gone with them but, err, no. Where are you?

Nat:I’m at college. I came back a day early. Most of the guys are due back tomorrow, Sunday, but Noah was due back today so I thought it best to be here so he wasn’t alone. He’s over at the ante room right now, some of his artillerymen friends are back already so he’s having afternoon tea with them.

Craig:That’s good of you, Nat, but I doubt Noah would have minded being alone. He never seems alone. Just in a little world of his own sometimes. Say ‘Hi’ to him for me when he gets back to the dorm.

Nat:For sure, Boots. Sounds like he had a good Christmas, spent part of it at their winter place in Florida and part of it cruising in the Bahamas, just like Will. Don’t think they were on the same ships though. Noah’s folks dropped him off here this lunchtime on their way home. He’s got me busy already, seems he did a couple of drawings of people on his cruise and took commissions to do quite a few more. ‘Market priming’ according to him. He’s given me a list of contacts to follow up. He’s pretty smart. He just draws and I get to do all the hard work!

Craig:Aw, come on, Nat, you love that sort of stuff! Didn’t you make quite a bit of money from the drawings Noah had at the art exhibition?

Nat:Yeah, to be fair, I did, though not as much as I ought to have done. Noah and his folks talked me into a real bargain of a deal in terms of my commission – from their point at least! The way for me to recoup that it is to push him up market, if I’m only getting a small percentage then I need the sale price to be high. With his talent though, that’s not going to be an issue. Did he tell you that two of the drawings we sold at the exhibition have already gone back on sale on the secondary market and more than doubled their price? I managed to get the sales featured in the art supplement in the New York Times’ Christmas review of budding new talent. That’s let us raise his commission fee quite a bit. Noah was quite shrewd on his cruise. He did a sketch of the ship’s captain, for free, and that’s gone on display aboard the ship in the First Class dining room. I reckon that’s going to bring in quite a few new commissions over the years…

Craig:Sounds like you and Noah have it cracked. I’ll get my crayons out and see what I can do. I’ve got a ‘colour by numbers’ book somewhere…

Nat:Don’t cross over the lines, Boots! Oh, and pastel shades sell best this year.

Craig:Cheeky twat!I never cross the line…

Nat:Really?

Craig:Well, maybe sometimes…

Nat:Anyway, what have you been up to today?

Craig:I went shooting with dad this morning, bagged myself a handful of pheasants. I’m going to cook then for mum in a week or so when they have been hung long enough. Dad says he’ll buy me my own gun soon.

Nat:Perrazi, Boots, go for Perazzi! That’s what we use.

Craig:Nah, Nat! Bloody overpriced Italian rubbish. They only sell to the nouveau riche Yanks. 😊 I’m going to look for a vintage side by side. Maybe with Damascus barrels and external hammers.

Nat:Hmmm, maybe I should see if I can dig out a plain Jane Vanderbilt for you, try and keep you in the manner to which you aspire…

Craig:Bollocks that, Nat, I’m done with American girls. You’ll do for me…

Nat:Why, kind Sir, I do believe that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me…

Craig:Quit taking the piss, Nat! And Shane does that accent way better.

Nat:Pots and kettles, Boots!

Craig:Truce, Nat. Anyway, I was talking to dad about you after the shoot. I think he’s coming round to the idea of me and you.

Nat:So, there is a me and you then?

Craig:Well, unless James Vanderbilt shows up…

Nat:The Vanderbilts really are nouveau riche, Boots. We Bauers had money even before we came to the States. We just made more when we got here.

Craig:Well, I guess there is precedent over here for marrying Germans. Victoria and Albert, for example.

Nat:Keep practicing with your crayons, Boots, and there may be scope…

Craig:Best start planning your wedding dress, Nat.

Nat:Me? In a dress? Not my role, Boots.

Craig:Well, you’re the one who shaves your legs. You could even have Riley as your bridesmaid.

Nat:Best quit going down that road before you get a punch on the nose, Boots.

Craig:Oh? Since when have you been any good at boxing, Nat?

Nat:Since I got Riley to stand behind you with a baseball bat hidden in his flower bouquet.

Craig: I’ll go and look up what Queensbury had to say about that.

Nat:Who?

Craig:Never mind, Nat. I’ll just add it to my list of stuff to teach you. Speaking of which, can you send me the mil skills syllabus you’re set for this semester? If there’s anything on it I already know I could help you put some lectures together again.

Nat:Thanks Boots, that’ll be good. I’ll email it to you later. The guys like the stuff you do for them. They’re way ahead on the score chart. Did Shane tell you that Reddick Squad tried to copy us and do Silent Drill for their drill test- which was just on the Parade Square, not on a Muster Sunday parade – but it all fell apart? One of the squad miscounted his steps, turned early, then the whole squad were left floundering. I assume they weren’t using hidden markers either.

Craig:Obviously, you didn’t laugh…

Nat:Of course not, Boots. Not outwardly anyway…

Craig:Hey, I can see you are wearing the Vostok I sent you! Do you like it?

Nat:I love it Boots!It feels like I am wearing a brick on my wrist, it’s so big and chunky!From a distance people think it’s a Rolex.

Craig: It’s way tougher and more waterproof than a Rolex, Nat, but so cheap that it doesn’t matter if you damage it. I’ve got the same model but in bright yellow. Impossible to lose!

Nat:Yes, it was very thoughtful of you, Boots. I wear it most of the time now and just keep my other watch for best. Are you at the other end of your bedroom tonight, Boots? The background is different.

Craig:No, I’m in my dad’s study. He lets me use it, I’ve figured out how to cast my phone and my games console to the tv in here, like Will does at your end. It’s actually our spare bedroom. My bedroom is way too small to have a desk in it. Not everyone lives in a mansion like you do!

Nat:They don’t? That’s odd. Kyle and Shane do. And Will and Noah probably. And Travis has a whole million-acre mountain range with its own airport in the back yard!

Craig:Yes, I heard all about that from Shane. Mountain lion attacks, tomahawk throwing, horse riding, Travis having an old pick-up like Kyle’s. Sounds like they had a great trip at Thanksgiving.

Nat:Yes, they didn’t stop talking about it for weeks when they got back. I guess it’ll be the same with Shane’s trip to London too.

Craig:Yes, I’m sure you’ll hear about it tomorrow when he gets back. Jack the Ripper, James Bond, beheadings on Tower Green…

Nat:If he gets back. We started with our first real snow of the winter yesterday. Noah beat it in, but it’s getting colder and the forecast says it’ll get pretty rough for the next few days, maybe blizzards by Tuesday. We’ve got a cold front coming down from the Lakes.

Craig:You’ll have to teach them how to dig a snow hole and do a winter survival training course. It’s awesome fun. Dad took me to Wales last year, up in the mountains, showed me how to do it. We spent two days in a snow hole.

Nat:My survival plans for a bad winter involve booking in at the Cancun Hilton, Boots!

Craig:Wimp! Seriously, Nat, doing a winter survival course would be great. You could get permission from the Commandant to go out into the woods for a night couldn’t you? Travis could probably teach you stuff too, he said he goes skiing each winter. I could do you some training tips. Tell you how to dig a snow hole and keep it warm.

Nat:That would be a great idea. I’ll look into it. I’m sure the guys would enjoy a night out in the woods and if it gets really bad we can always come back indoors. It’d count as part of our MilSkills training too. If you could help me put a training lecture together that would be great.

Craig:Consider it done. I’ll chuck some Powerpoint slides together later and email them over to you, maybe tomorrow. How much snow do you get there?

Nat:It varies, but a typical winter will give us a few feet and it can last for weeks. This storm coming down from the Lakes is forecast to dump several feet on us and be real cold.

Craig:That’s good! If it drifts it’ll give you a head start in making a snow hole. Maybe in some of those little finger valleys that run through the woods. Those would be ideal if they fill with snow. I’ve still got the map data Will sent over to me, he wanted me to check some maths out for him on line-of-sight calculations over Christmas. I’ve done that for him, so when I talk to him about it when he gets back I can also run through potential sites for snow holes.What’s your prevailing wind direction and sun elevation?

Nat:Whoa, Boots! Don’t get too carried away! Let me get permission to spend a night out in the snow first, then we can sort out the details.

Craig:Jump to it, Sergeant!

Nat:Who made you the boss, Boots?

Craig:I did! TACAMO, Nat. Take Charge And Move On. Sort yourself out, boy.

Nat:Yes, I definitely need to do that ready for Thursday. I still haven’t come up with an idea for my in-depth history project for this semester. By Easter I need to have done a 10,000-word exploration of an event from 20th century history. Got to agree the subject with my tutor this week.Your appraisal of Tecumseh really has raised the bar: as well as needing to get an A for the essay anyway it would do me good to be able to get it published in the alumni journal.

Craig:So, what are the ground rules? What do people normally write about? What do you know about?

Nat:Well, the top essay last year was a review of the Isolationist Policy after the First World War. And the year before, the best essay was on Watergate and the dissolution of trust in US politics.

Craig:Sounds as boring as listening to paint dry. So I guess it’s got to be US based and let you show off how much you know about something?

Nat:Yes, got it in a nutshell.

Craig:And all the obvious and interesting stuff has been done already? Like the Wright brothers inventing flying or Henry Ford doing mass production?

Nat:Yes, nothing so easy as that left…

Craig:Why not do a new twist on history? Write about something that didn’t happen?

Nat:Err, I think you missed the point there, Einstein. How do I write a history project on what didn’t happen? History is what did happen…

Craig:Not stick o’ celery, Nat. You can show off your dazzlingly extensive knowledge of everything that did happen by looking at what could have happened instead if it hadn’t.

Nat:I’m not following you, Boots…

Craig:Well, what would have happened if the iceberg had got out of bed late and missed the Titanic? Maybe some financier or politician made it to Noo Yawk after all instead of becoming fish food and the world turned out differently. You could write something like that. His survival means a different law being passed in your parliament or whatever you call it, or Ford going bust or something and America never taking the world lead in car production.

Nat:I like the idea Boots, and it would stand out from the crowd, but it doesn’t show how much I understand about the real events does it?

Craig:It can do, Nat. You have to show how different stuff turned out by contrasting it with what really happened, and the whole thing being plausible. That’s what shows how well you really understand what actually happened and why it turned out like it did.

Nat:I don’t know much about icebergs though…

Craig:Well, obviously, write about something you do know. Wasn’t your history syllabus last semester all about the causes and consequences of World War Two?

Nat:Yes, it was. You actually borrowed my books! Said it was more interesting than the stuff you were having to do.

Craig:The Great Depression. I can see why they called it that…

Nat:I guess I could do something about that era. I’ll give it some thought. I’ve got until Thursday.

Craig:Make it plausible, Nat, and nothing obvious like ‘What if Japan nuked Washington first?’ They just didn’t have the technology and you can’t just magic it up. You’ve got to show you understand the real events.

Nat:I think I need to have a stern word with that butterfly.

Craig:Why not think about what would have happened if Hitler had been smarter and not declared war on America? That could let you explore the causes and consequences of World War 2 from a different angle.

Nat:I’m still not seeing it, Boots.

Craig:Bloody Hell, Nat. Look, Pearl Harbour was the biggest shock to America since Custer got creamed wasn’t it? And you declared war because of it, right?

Nat:Yes, that’s it.

Craig:But that was against the Japanese. We’d already been fighting Hitler for over two years with you standing on the sidelines with your hands in your pockets. America was still being Isolationist about Europe. But Hitler was stupid and actually declared war on America, so then you had to get off your backsides and get involved in that war too.

Nat: I guess that’s one way of looking at it…

Craig: But what if Hitler had been smart, and not declared war on America? So no war with Germany and no agreement with Churchill to put Europe first would have left America to concentrate on the Pacific campaign, and only that. No diversion of forces to Europe. No aid to the Russians. You might have beaten Japan faster but at the cost of Germany beating Russia. If the US beats Japan, we might have been able to draw more forces from our Empire and come to some agreement with Germany – we’d have let them have France for definite! The Cold War might have turned out as a three horse race instead. No Russia, they end up subjugated by Germany, but the USA holding sway in Asia, Britain with its maritime based Empire and Germany with a land-based Empire, all looking at each other suspiciously for the next fifty years.

Nat:Hey, I like it, and I already studied the background to what really happened and how it lead to the Cold War…

Craig:So you can show you understood the causes of the real war well enough to come up with a plausible alternative and then describe the consequences of your version. Demonstrate you understood what the Japanese were hoping to gain, how Churchill manipulated American popular thought, all that sort of stuff…

Nat:I definitely like it, Boots!

Craig:Double check with your tutor he’ll allow it then get yourself down to the library. The key is to convince him you’re not just writing a fairy story but examining the real-world events by a consideration of how else they could have turned out.Just like how if you lot hadn’t thrown a strop and dumped perfectly good tea in the harbour you could all have stayed civilised and loyal subjects of ‘er Maj.

Nat: I’ll run that concept past him too, Boots.

Craig:That might be stretching things too far. I can’t see us wanting to keep you once you’d invented Hershy bars. Anyway Nat, I have to go now, it’s getting late here. Let’s talk again soon though, I’ll keep an eye out for you online, I should be here tomorrow night, and I’ll come up with some snow hole stuff for you and the guys. Say ‘Hi’ to them all for me when they get back.

Nat: No problem, and thanks again for my watch, Craig, I really do like it. Speak again tomorrow.